Tuesday, May 11, 2010

We visited the Little Bighorn National Monument which was Custer's Last Stand. Custer was a phenomenal military man through the Civil War and figured the Indians would be easy to defeat. This was an epic drama 134 years ago with the clashing of 2 diverse cultures that had been living with animosity for 400 years. The Euro Americans were always trying to civilize the Indians and imposing our culture on them. The Indians were trying to keep their culture and still get along with the White Man.
The Cheyenne, Lakota, Arapaho and Sioux were camped beside the cool waters of the Little Bighorn River with all of their women, children and old people. They spread out for two and a half miles along the river. They totaled over 7000 Indians with about 2000 of them warriors. The US government wanted all of the Indians on reservations so the wagon trains could be safe from Indian attacks and the white people could find any land they wanted for their own. They felt it was their right. The Indians felt the land belonged to Mother Earth- use it carefully. The Euro-Americans thought the Indians were wasting the wild and it needed to be conquered. The settlers felt all of the land was theirs for the taking. This idealology was popular from the time of Thomas Jefferson with his Manifest Destiny. The buffalo hunters were also killing off the buffalo which was the livelihood of the Indians. They used the buffalo for their food, clothes, tools, weapons and their religion. The hunters were just killing the buffalo for sport. They didn't even eat the meat- they just left the bodies there to rot. The Indians felt this was a terrible waste; and they were right. We almost made the buffalo extinct by this pratice.
When Custer found gold in the Black Hills everybody wanted to mine it. But the government had signed a Treaty of 1868 with the Sioux Indians that gave them this land. The Sioux wouldn't sell the land back because you cannot sell the land where your grandparents bones lie. President Grant doesn't know what to do. So he sends the troops out to Indian territory under Reno, Custer and Crook. They divide into 3 flanks coming from all sides. Each flank was to act independently because they couldn't communicate to each other. There were no cell phones! A Crow Scout told Custer the Indians had been warned, so he decides to attack early. But the Indians really weren't warned. Custer attacked them by surprise. Some of the older women were up the river getting water. There were little children playing in the river. It was an extremely hot morning. His troops of 225 hadn't slept in several days. Most of the troops were foreign born, mostly Irish who didn't speak English. They were just off the boat from Ireland and couldn't find jobs. So they went into the cavalry because it was a job and they got food. Much better than the hunger they had in Ireland.
Crook's troops were basically the same as Custer's. They couldn't speak English, had no boot camp, weren't taught how to fight. All they were given was a shotgun that would fire 1 shot before you had to reload, and a pistol. They weren't given much ammunition either. The Indians' culture trains its warriors from birth. It's the games the little boys played. The Indians were also used to attacking animals and other tribes and causing confusion. Crazy Horse had 800 warriors and a vision of a brown pebble behind his ear would make him win. Crazy Horse attacks Crook and in 6 hours he only lost 12 Indians. Crook's flank fell to the Indians, so he couldn't meet Custer where they had planned.
Sitting Bull, who was refusing to take his people to the reservation, had a vision of the calvary falling upside down with no ears. So he prepares for war. He has 30,000 horses and over 2000 warriors. The Crow Scout tells Custer that it'll be a tough fight; but he doesn't listen. He's never lost before. Custer thought the Indians wouldn't fight. The Indians have over 200 Henry 16 Repeaters rifles. They don't have to stop after each shot to reload and they are fighting for their livelihood and culture. They want to be able to keep their nomadic lifestyle. Custer sends a message to Crook and Reno to meet him with packs- which meant ammunitions. But Crook is already defeated and Reno is in battle for 2 days, but loses too. So Custer, without help, loses to the Indians. The Indians know the battlefield very well because it is their land. They knew where to hide and where they could ambush the calvary. Custer is killed at the top of the hill as are the rest of his troops. You can see all of the soldiers gravestones placed where they fell. The red gravestones are placed where the Indians died. But, most of the Indians were taken away and buried in their burial sites.
So Custer lost this battle- his last stand because he died; but the US government won the battle over the Indians within the year. The public was outraged because some of the soldiers had been scalped and Custer had arrows stuck into his ears because he wouldn't listen. So the government sent 7000 soldiers to hunt and kill the Indians. Some were killed, some starved, died or fled to Canada.
This was a war of cultures. We killed off the buffalo, misused the land and were pushing the Indians off their lands. This is the only battlefield in the world where there are markers where the cavalry and Indians fell and died. For the Indians it is a spiritual place because it's their land and where they won this battle. The hatred of the Indians by the Euro-Americans was almost a religion. This battlefield is exactly the same as it was in June, 1876- except for the gravestones and the Visitor center.
Next we drove to Mel and Doris' house at 72 Cloud Peak in Buffalo, Wyoming. They greeted us warmly, although I can't say he had ever actually seen me before. But Mel and Pop Pop always wrote letters to each other. Mel and Doris look really good. She will be 81 next month and Mel is already 82. Much younger than Pop Pop. But you can see he resembles Pop Pop. You can tell he is a Becker and so is his Mom. They took us out to a delicious restaurant intown(the town is really small). I had Canadian walleye and so did Mel. Daddy had NY strip and Doris had halibut. It was a lovely dinner. They insisted we spend the night at their house and the next day he was able to show us his artists' studio. He is so talented. He graciously gave us many copies of his paintings. At present he is only doing Western paintings. They sell for about $7000 a piece- and that's the smaller ones. We have 1 of his large paintings of the Civil War hanging in the sitting room upstairs. He is preparing for a showing in Dallas in January. Maybe we can attend. We invited them to visit us in Florida in the winter. But they don't like humidity. He said many years ago he would never live on the east coast again. He absolutely loves Wyoming. They have a one and a half year old dauschhound puppy named Fritz. He was so lovable and playful. I really miss Heidi.
By the way, it snowed while we were out to dinner and had the roads covered. Can you believe it? It's May 11th! There was no way we could have driven that night. It snowed all night and was still snowing when we woke up at 7. We finally were able to leave about 11:30 and found the roads snow covered all the way, but drivable, through to almost Cody, Wyoming. If we had gone north to Billings, it would have been all rain. But the Bighorn Mountains were covered in snow because of their elevation. We watched the temperature drop the higher we drove. We made it to Cody and checked into a Holiday Inn for the night. Tomorrow we will go to the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center. Mel said it was one we shouldn't miss. That's the main reason we didn't go back through to Billings. We'll have to go there on the 17th when we leave the rental house for good.